BillSaysThis

On the other hand, who the hell decided to call this pop trash Rockin’ for the USA when there isn’t one legitimate rock and roll act on the bill?

Sometimes shows go too soon, sometimes too late, sometimes who cares, and sometimes just right. As this TV season ends (you all know summer doesn’t count, right?), we said goodbye to Titus, X-Files, Spin City/Dharma and Greg, and Ally McBeal.

Titus is leaving way too soon. Darkly humorous, unafraid to go past conventional limits, and deathly funny, Christopher Titus’s look at the people in his real life was cancelled after only two seasons. “That which does not kill us, makes us funny.” That quote, from Christopher Titus’ Philosophies of Life, is an excellent summary of why the show is so funny. This guy is good, really good, and so this cancellation will be just a bump in the road; we’ll see more of him very soon.

The X-Files finale was, I thought, satisfying and imaginative but should have aired two years ago. Carter, Manners, and the rest of the X creative crew made nice use of dead or long gone characters, got Duchovny back to give the focus to Mulder and Scully as it should be, and summed up the alien conspiracies for longtime viewers. Mitch Pileggi, the always underused AD Skinner, played a major role. William B. Davis gives us a wild, long-haired surprise as the Cigarette Smoking Man and finally unveils his reason for protecting Mulder all these years: he wanted to see the look on Mulder’s face when he finally learned the truth and the truth did not set him free but broke him. Ah but the truth didn’t break him, it bonded Mulder and Scully closer than ever, and set us up for the next big screen adventure coming in 2004. But the last two seasons were just, well, superfluous. Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish, both okay actors, didn’t have the chemistry, the just right match for the materials that Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have.

Some viewers might put Spin City in the too late category because the show should have quit gracefully when Michael J. Fox had to leave due to illness two years ago. I would disagree though because Charlie Sheen and the producers were able to reinvent the deputy mayor character rather than just try and slip Sheen in as repackaged Fox. This worked for all of, say, half a season. Maybe it was ratings or network pressure, maybe it was writer laziness, but in any case the show just became repetitive and boring. Dharma and Greg fell into the same rut after going strong for several seasons. The show page to which I linked in the previous sentence, the network’s description for the last two episodes, is precisely reflective of this show’s rut: setting the parents off against each other once again. And again. And again. You see my point: who cares.

Ally McBeal is leaving while the leaving is good. Callista Flockhart, never to heavy to not look anorexic, has the father figure/action hero/lover she apparently always wanted in Harrison Ford. David Kelley has The Practice, Boston Public, and a new show about young, sexy female lawyers who not only work together but live together (girls club) taking Ally’s schedule slot on the Fall schedule. How many different guys can she fall in love with anyway without at least one sticking around? Let’s be glad that Kelley didn’t cheap shot Ally and Richard into a last second double wedding. The final episode was good, paid tribute to some of the best bits (Ally’s men, especially Gil Bellows’ Billy), the dancing baby, Ally’s tendency to get lost in the ether, singing at the club, and best of all, the whackiness of love.

Ate some fine meals, had some fine company (happy birthday again, Ellie), very light on the gambling, and the flights were more or less normal. We stayed at the Stardust, my second visit there in 16 months and almost certainly my last. Our party had three rooms, all booked together well in advance. Sure, they assigned us three rooms near each other–but all on a smoking floor. Since none of us smoke we were peeved and ended up with rooms on three separate floors. Next, the Stardust does not supply hair dryers, they must be the only name hotel on the Strip that doesn’t. Anyway, enough complaining; I did enjoy the gambling and food at the Stardust, although I lost a few dollars at craps and blackjack but had a good time explaining the details of craps to Viv. Let’s just say Viv is a very quick study, very smart lady.

After arriving and freshening up, we met up with Ellie, Diane, and Andrea (yes I was in Vegas with four wonderful women!) for a walk down to Treasure Island to see the ship battle. Very convincing and realistic–not! But fun and entertaining. Then we walked down and across to the Venetian to see the gondolas in action. Viv and I left the ladies to their shopping and dancing and returned to our hotel for a romantic dinner William B’s, fresh, very flavorful Australian Lobster Tails for Viv and Steak Diane for me.

Sunday late morning was group brunch and then an excursion down to the other end of the strip. We started at New York, New York, which has a really touching memorial to the FDNY outside where the fire boats ride. Then across to the positively huge MGM Grand to see the lion habitat. As usual the creatures were languid if not outright sleepy mid-afternoon. The ladies stepped over to M&M World and the Coke store while I played a few hands of 21.

The Venetian is a gorgeous hotel, this trip I finally went in for a look. Which reminds me that next trip to Sin City has got to be a day or two longer and include visits to the two museums at the Venetian and a stop at the new Wynn Collection gallery. Sunday night we celebrated Ellie’s birthday with dinner at the Venetian at the WB Stage 16 Restaurant; the ladies had some especially tasty alcoholic openers though I stuck with beer. This restaurant is a little pricy (the special martinis are $10 a glass) but a nicer setting than expected and tasty food (the salmon and BBQ chicken pizza were particularly recommended).

Monday was just a comfortable, romantic Bill and Viv travel day. No rush getting out, then over to the airport were we faced a potentially lengthy weather (wind) delay but fortunately it was cleared and we lifted off only a few minutes late. I love flights that are low hassle, don’t you? We even lucked out driving back from SFO and didn’t hit a single jam on 101 even though we were in afternoon rush hour. And then safe and sound back here at home.

Pictures should be posted tomorrow.

Documentary Brings Actresses Together – Where’s Debra Winger?

An interesting essay by Jonathan V. Last on why, contrary to common perception, the Empire is good and the Rebellion bad. The author even accounts for the destruction of Alderaan! (Note: the essay does not review or spoil the new movie in this article.)

Dad says: Many comparisons may be made with the Bush administration, in terms of “just wanting order” and a return to fundamental Christian values.

FridayFive is not all that interesting but I will try and put in a humorous entry:

1. Waterless soap (not soap without water but the kind they have in hospitals that requires no water)
   

2. On this hair? Do you think I need it?
   

3. Do knives count?
   

4. Hey, I’m the bomb, baby!
   

5. Every morning when I wake up

<via garret>

A lawyer’s perspective on the software development lifecycle – brief but to the point.

As previously predicted, the Boss has said no to the Draft the Boss organizers: “If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.”

Next to last warm up for the US national soccer team at Foxboro before the World Cup starts on May 31 in Japan and South Korea. Last match is this Sunday against the Netherlands; first US game is June 5 against Portugal. The Portuguese have to be the favorites in our opening round Group D, with South Korea and Poland the other group teams. We ought to go through to the knockout stages even though oddsmakers don’t think so.

First goal today was sweet, with San Jose Earthquakes young (20 year old) star Landon Donovan starting things off at midfield, getting it ahead to Joe Max Moore streaking ahead on the right. Moore makes a terrific cross, close enough to draw the Jamaican goalkeeper Lawrence off his line but curving away from him, Josh Wolff is right there with a chest-high diving header into the net.

One of the Americans is on the sidelines 90 seconds into the second half Landon Donovan takes a steal and is off on a speed move down the right side. He sees no shot so passes back to Josh Wolff who puts it right on the foot of Clint Mathis. Mathis, well out in the box, powers the ball right past the Jamaican keeper.

A couple of minutes later American keeper Kasey Keller has to hobble off the field. He appears to have hurt his right knee in a collision with a Jamaican forward. Tony Meola, an American soccer icon from Kearney, NJ, takes his place. Early report (10 minutes after he came off the field) is just a contusion of the left knee for Keller; the announcers say this is good news as Keller should not see any lasting effect from the injury.

In the 60th minute, Josh Wolff from the top left on the box, lots of top spin, slams it into the goal. Wolff is earning World Cup playing time.

Mathis limped off a couple of minutes later for a substitute, the last the Americans have for this match, due to a contusion on a toe–someone stepped on his foot. Jamaicans continue to foul badly and somehow the referee Martinez is letting them get away with it; there was a tackle on Eddie Lewis by Daly which the announcers said was a clear red card but the referee only gave a yellow. The USA bench “looks like a MASH unit.” The referee is going to let Daly keep going until he “commits two acts of murder tonight.” A good lesson for the Americans as they will be seeing very physical play in Korea.

84th minute: Landon Donovan, after setting up the first three goals, finally gets into the net from the top left corner of the goal box. He has to be the top candidate to replace the injured Chris Armas in midfield after making solid defensive plays as well.

88th minute: Jamaica gets their first real challenge on the American goal but the striker puts it over the top instead of on target.

92 minute (extra time): DaMarcus Beasley (19 years old) gets the ball alone against Lawrence and sticks it into goal seconds before the end.

5-0 USA!

Raging Hormones Menopausal Prozac Barbie – another gutbuster supplied by Pam.

Heath Ledger goes a little over the top in this fictional biography called A Knight’s Tale. Gleefully filled with anachronisms, imagine one of the better teen flicks of recent years (such as Ledger’s own 10 Things I Hate About You) set eight or nine hundred years ago. The locals know the words to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and dance to Bowie’s “Golden Years.” The tournaments of knights go from town to town and lead up to a World Championship, sort of like a WWF without the scripting.

One of writer/director Brian Helgeland’s amusing creations is using Geoffrey Chaucer (yes, he of the Canterbury Tales) as a kind of PR flack/herald for Ledger’s character. Not to mention Chaucer (Paul Bettany) first appears to us nude after losing his clothes to a gambling addiction. Rufus Sewell is a very good baddie and Helgeland wisely makes no attempt to give him any redeeming qualities. Shannyn Sossamon makes her screen debut as the love interest and she is quite beautiful; not another generic blonde but also not too impressive in the, um, curves department.

The principals must have enjoyed working together quite a bit as Helgeland, Ledger, Sossamon, and Mark Addy (Ledger’s primary squire) have reteamed for The Sin Eater, a religious themed murder mystery due out later this year. Anyway, if you’re in the mood for something goofy, fluffy, and medieval, A Knight’s Tale is recommended.

Have you listened to Little Steven’s Underground Garage yet? Very cool radio show (Sunday nights) but the shows are also available on the website. I just listened to Show 4, which featured versions of “Hey Joe” and “Louie Louie” I’d never heard before plus excellent tunes from The Yardbirds, The Kinks, Flaming Groovies, Nazz, two hours worth of cool guitar and organ driven music from the ’60s to today. Get cracking!

As hosted and proofed by the prolific Aussie Beau Lebens of DentedReality, version 1.1 of our PHP implementation of the Blogger XML-RPC API has been expanded by Kathryn Aaker to include support for MoveableType. Kathryn is a witty, intelligent San Francisco-based photographer and novice PHP/Flash programmer with a passion for Lomo photography (which I am to thick to get).

With Bruce you never know what’s going to happen. In the early ’80s and again in the early ’90s he recorded complete albums, was on the verge of releasing them, and decided otherwise, essentially scrapping them. For all the talk that Tracks was intended to clean out the vaults, there is no doubt that he has several more Tracks-sized releases possible, several hundred songs completely recorded and mostly mixed.

The latest news, though, is that a new record around October (of this year) is looking more and more likely. Just yesterday, for instance, Backstreets reports that five new tracks were played at a Sony meeting, where retail, distribution, and label representatives received a first taste of the forthcoming album. Springsteen manager Jon Landau was on hand to present the new recordings to an assembly of roughly 50 people. He continues to be seen in Atlanta, site of the recording studio he’s using, in the company of alleged co-producer Brendan O’Brien.

Next, some politicos are attempting to put together a campaign to elect the Boss to the Senate even though he hasn’t responded to their six monthlong effort. Boss Springsteen? Shades of old time Tammany Hall, eh? The organizers, who were with Jesse Ventura’s Minnesota gubernatorial effort, has a Draft the Boss website. Their idea is for him to run as an independent since they claim neither major party has strong candidate. Democratic incumbent Robert Toricelli has “spent long months facing charges connected to campaign contributions” and the Republican frontrunner is another well-off guy spending his own millions to get in office. Somehow I doubt Bruce would be willing to get involved.

Tell me you wouldn’t want to be the meat in the middle of this sandwich. I won’t believe you but you can tell me if you want to waste your breath.

I love watching cooking shows, like Great Chefs and Molto Mario, but the Times article Cooking Like a 3-Star Chef in Your Own Home (Almost) sets out the truth about what really goes into such top level cooking. Just not going to happen in a home kitchen, the equipment and the ingredients are too much. simple tip: cook hot and use extra butter. But hey, they also have the recipe for a perfect steak, so it’s cool.

After the whole executive retirement storm, there are some positive stories coming out this week and with any luck the stock will remain above $7:

• Sun retakes Unix sales lost to IBM – moving up to 54% market share of UNIX-based servers, all the 3.3% gain at IBM’s expense.
• Blueprints for Sun’s New Direction – very positive article on the new Blueprints programs at Sun which give customers and tire kickers detailed instructions on installing and configuring complete solutions featuring Sun products at their core.
• Microsoft ploy to block Sun exposed – one has to wonder how hard the execs at MS laugh at the rest of us sometimes.
• Solaris 9 to Ease Patch Uploads – working to match some of the innovative Linux systems.

Somehow, I wonder if I’m speaking too soon, if Sun will ever get back to say $10 and save my butt.

Yes that was a decent-size earthquake tonight, 5.2 on the R scale, centered about 70 kilometers south of here near Gilroy. I spoke to Vivian in SF and she felt it strongly but a friend in Concord didn’t notice a thing. No damage, no one hurt here, but it happened while I was in bed watching the Sharks game and the rolling and shaking lasted a few seconds longer than I liked, I can tell you.

As you may recall, my birthday was not all that long ago and I finally grabbed four pics out of my camera from that day. Vivian has more but she has had other things to worry about; those probably won’t get posted until next week at the earliest. Here’s me and Viv and me and Byron:

 

There are also pictures of Vivian and Byron by themselves.

Poo and puke make science palatable – Pam says to blog this because it’s “an absolute, screaming riot.” And of course she’s right.